NYPD probe of Muslims was terrible insult -- and also risky

Finally, someone has cut through the static and gotten to the core problem with the New York Police Department’s surveillance of Muslims in New Jersey.

The problem is not that the NYPD crossed the state line. As The Star-Ledger’s Christopher Baxter made abundantly clear in Tuesday’s paper, the NYPD’s presence here was no secret. Our people knew all about it.

The problem is that this operation was a terrible insult to law-abiding Muslims who have been helping the FBI for years. They feel as if they were treated like suspected terrorists solely because of their religion. And now their trust in law enforcement, carefully cultivated for years, has been shattered.

If you don’t buy that, listen to FBI Special Agent Michael Ward, the agency’s top officer in New Jersey: “The impact of that sinking tide of cooperation means that we don’t have our finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the community as well — we’re less knowledgeable, we have blind spots and there’s more risk.”

This operation was not sinister. It was dumb. We have lost eyes and ears that have helped keep us safe.

Leaders of the Muslim community want a full investigation by the Attorney General’s Office, a reasonable request that’s been denied so far. But even if this operation was legal, and even if NYPD shared all the information it had, our hope is that a larger lesson has been learned.

And it is this: Law-abiding Muslims should be treated with respect. They are everyone’s allies in the search for terrorists.